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Monday, November 28, 2011

Every week, a plethora of writers, publications, media outlets and bloggers issue their Top-25 rankings for the past seven days worth of action. A majority of the time, everybody has virtually same opinion of all the teams, save a few upsets here or there.

If you want to find this week's top-25 rankings, you've come to the wrong place.

Here you will find our rankings for the 10 worst team performances of the week. This list isn't just home to the winless mid-major bottom-feeders. No, here you will find the biggest underachievers, slumpers and teams in a funk. We'll provide detail on the worst weekly performers, and the teams that just plain suck. Now, there will be teams on this list that are better than teams not on this list. But come on people, we are trying to be creative, just work with us here.

After the jump, you will find our list of the ten most screwed-up teams in the country. It's going to get ugly. 1. Boston College (2-3)

The Eagles Are woefully bad. Sure they have nine freshman on the roster, and they didn't return any real production from last year's squad.. But their two wins have come against New Hampshire (by 3) and UC-Riverside (In overtime by 4). Their three losses have come to Holy Cross, UMass and Saint Louis, by a combine 69 points. Even the worst BCS-conference team should be able avoid getting smacked by Holy Cross by 22-points. According to KenPom, the Eagles are the worst BCS-conference team in the country. the Eagles look like a team that may not win a single ACC game this season. In fact, they look like a team that might lose to North Carolina by triple-digits.

2. UCLA (1-4)

Where, oh where to begin. Well, first, they have yet to log a win against a D-I opponent. They sport ugly, double-digit losses to Loyola Marymount and Middle Tennessee. The team's best player, Reeves Nelson, was suspended for three days because of attitude problems. A day after his suspension was lifted, he missed the team flight to Hawaii. To follow this up, Ben Howland benched Nelson for just one half.

Then there is Josh Smith, the team's massive center. The 310lb-behemoth refuses to lose weight and work on his endurance, and has only logged 20+ minutes in two games. Plus the Bruins are the worst team in the country in defending the 3-pointer, with their opponents making 61% of their shots from behind the arc. If things weren't already bizarre-enough, Travis Wear injured his foot while on a snorkeling trip over the weekend. Yup, that's right, he injured his foot while snorkeling. This team is toast.

3. Utah (1-4)

I often struggle to understand why exactly the Pac-12 decided to bring in Utah. They stink at football and they are absolutely dreadful at basketball. The Utes have lost five straight since their first and only win of the season, against non-DI San Diego Christian who they only beat by 3-points. Sure, you could argue that all the teams they lost to (Boise State by 21, Montana State by 6, 28 to Harvard, UMass by 14, and UNC-Ashville by 22) are better than people expected. But still, all five of those losses came to mid and low major schools. This team probably won't win a single conference game, which says a lot since the Pac-12 is in such a state of disarray already.

4. Notre Dame (4-2)

Nobody expected Notre Dame to be great this season. Sure, Tim Abromaitis would be an All-Conference player, and they have some quality players, but nobody thought they would be world-beaters. But I don't think anybody thought they would go out and get run off the floor by Missouri. A loss to Missouri isn't bad, but a 29-point loss isn't exactly good either. Then they followed that up with a ugly four point loss to a not-so-good Georgia team.

But the biggest blow came during practice last week, when Abromaitis tore his ACL, and will miss the rest of the season. This team looks to be on it's last legs.

5. Cincinnati (3-2)

The Bearcats were predicted to be one of the best teams in the Big East. Their non-conference schedule is riddled with cupcakes and this was supposed to set them up to enter the Big East conference season with very few blemishes on their record. But that's before they lost in the upset of the year to Presbyterian, a school that has been in Divison-I for less than five years. The Bearcats blew a 21-point led en route to a humiliation loss to the Blue Hose. But then they followed that up with an overtime loss to Marshall, the only opponent that could have provided the program with a good non-conference win. (Ed. Note: Other than Xavier, obviously. Whoops.)

6. Hawaii (2-2)

Maybe this was my fault. I was pretty sure Hawaii had the talent, skill, and experience to become the best team in the WAC. But through the first four games, they have looked more like a middling mid-major than the conference powerhouse I expected them to be. Not many teams in the country allow their opponents to shoot more foul shots than the Warriors. Their opponents are currently shooting 79% against them. The 19-point loss to Gonzaga on a "neutral court" in Canada is one thing, but losing to Eastern Washington by 15 at home isn't.

7. South Carolina (2-4)

There is only one BCS-conference team with worse 3-point defense than South Carolina, and that team is ranked #2 on this very list. The bottom of the SEC is pretty bad, but I'm positive that LSU and Auburn are going to be better than the 'Cocks. How on earth Darrin Horne still has a job is beyond me, but he probably has to write quarterly checks to Devan Downey.

Two of SC's losses have been to Elon and Tennessee State. Woof. SC's wins have come against Mississippi Valley State and Western Carolina. Double-woof. The 'Cocks leading scorer averages just 11.8-ppg and is the only player on the team to average double-digits. Triple-woof.

8. Grambling State (0-5)

The SWAC is not a good place to be in mid-November and early-December. All ten teams are below .500 and Grambling State is yet to taste victory. Sure, the university is making money from these "guarantee games" but the Tigers have played at home just once, and they won't play another home game until 2012. The Tigers have lost all five games by a combined 178-points, or roughly 36-ppg. But on the plus side, they did lose three consecutive games by 30-points. That's pretty cool, right? But seriously, their leading scorer is averaging 7.8-ppg. That's brutal.

9. UAB (1-4)

The Blazers were picked to finish in the top half of the C-USA this season. But after five games, I see a team that looks like they won't win a single conference game. Sure, Cameron Moore is averaging a double-double per contest, and Ovie Soko is just shy of averaging a double-double as well.

But, I mean, the Blazers are averaging just eight rebounds per game. Just eight. That's deplorable. Did it ever occur to Mike Davis that he might want to find a successor to all-conference point guard Aaron Johnson? Plus, the Blazers lost to UT-Martin, whose only win was against a non-DI school.

10. Towson (0-5)

The Tigers are losing by roughly 28-ppg. In fact, they've lost two games by exactly 46-points each. On top of that, the Tigers are averaging just seven assists a game. Only four players are averaging more than five points per game. Pat Skerry, the new Towson head coach has a lot of work ahead of him.

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